Adventure M-Apps

It would be easy to scoff at a new guidebook app when there are loads of guidebooks out there already, but give me a moment and I’ll tell you why I reckon that Adventure M-Apps might be the start of something rather exciting.

Let’s start with the people behind it. They’re not desk-bound geeks, but rather very experienced outdoors experts:
– The President of the British Association of International Mountain Leaders
– A professional photographer who has led over 60 expedition treks
– A mountain leader/instructor and youth trekking guide
– The principal provider of Mountain Bike Leader training, and
– An Editor of Rough Guides guidebooks.
– and a major UK mapping provider – Harvey Maps – for good measure!

This, ladies and gents, is a start-up which I can see going on to do great things in the outdoor industry.

So, Adventure M-Apps will be downloadable guides with interactivity, which cover the major trekking, climbing and biking routes of the world. A combination of professional photography, video, text content and maps aim to give the very best impression of a route without you actually being there.

And Adventure M-Apps have started with the Everest Base Camp trek as a vehicle for getting their name out there, and for trialling the app (and static digital book) before rolling out the system to the UK and Europe’s major routes over the next few years.

It’s the level of detail that the project goes in to which sets Adventure M-Apps apart. Take, for instance, this blog post by Issie on their site: LINK. More than just a brief guide, it goes in to talk about itineraries, equipment and the actual experience of being there. She WAS there when she wrote her notes, and that shows.

The app itself runs on phone and tablet. I’ve had a brief overview of the tablet version and am downloading the phone version (it’s a whopping 630Mb). The tablet version is very slick, with an intuitive interface and lots of detail to explore.